STI begins the week with 0.8% gain

SINGAPORE stocks kicked off the week on a positive start, with the benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) ending the day up 0.77 per cent or 19.46 points to close at 2,552.42.

Sembcorp Industries came out tops among the STI constituents, gaining 3.01 per cent or S$0.04 to close at S$1.37.

Other top performers in the index include ComfortDelGro and Venture Corporation, which gained 2.07 per cent and 1.92 per cent respectively.

In a report on Oct 7, RHB analyst Shekhar Jaiswal said that ComfortDelGro "should benefit from gradual improvements in public transport ridership and increase in its taxi utilisation, as the country enters Phase 3 of reopening the economy".

Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat had said in Parliament last week that the multi-ministry taskforce will be releasing details of a Phase 3 roadmap "in the coming weeks".

The trio of banks also ended the day up. DBS gained 1.66 per cent or S$0.35 to close at S$21.40, while OCBC Bank inched up 1.05 per cent or S$0.09 to close at S$8.68.

UOB, similarly, closed up 0.98 per cent or S$0.19 at S$19.64. The bank said in a bourse filing on Monday that its Sydney branch has priced A$500 million (S$489.3 million) of senior unsecured floating rate notes due October 2023, which will fall under its US$15 billion global medium-term note programme.

Meanwhile, Dairy Farm International was top decliner for the day, falling 1.29 per cent or US$0.05 to close at US$3.83.

Advancers outnumbered decliners 272 to 174 on Monday, with 1.4 billion securities worth S$1 billion changing hands.

Across the region, Asian markets ended the day mixed.

The Shanghai Composite Index rose 2.64 per cent or 86.39 points to close at 3,358.47; with the Hang Seng Index tracking the mainland's gains to end at 24,649.68, up 2.20 per cent or 530.55 points.

Stephen Innes, AxiCorp's chief global markets strategist, said the rallies were "put down to expectations that President Xi's trip to Shenzhen could reveal more detailed policy plans and further liberalisation of the Chinese economy".

However, the benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 0.26 per cent, or 61.0 points, to close at 23,558.69.